IV. The Chandogya Upanishad: The Uprising of Sacred Song (Om)
“Those who depart from this world without knowing who they are or what they truly desire have no freedom here or hereafter.
But those who leave here knowing who they are and what they truly desire have freedom, both in this world and in the next.”
“A person is what his deep desire is. It is our deepest desire in this life that shapes the life to come. So let us direct our deepest desires to realize the Self.”
“This Self who gives rise to all works, all desires, all odors, all tastes, who pervades the universe, who is beyond words, who ever present in my heart, is Brahmin indeed.”
Shvetaketu was Uddalada’s son. At the age of twelve he sent his son to go and seek a spiritual teacher as in the family tradition. The son studied the Vedas for twelve years. After this time, the father asked his son if the teacher had taught him to hear the unheard, think the unthought and know the unknown. The son replied by asking his father, “What is that wisdom? Please instruct me in the wisdom father.”
The father said: “In the beginning was only Being.
One without a second.
Out of himself he brought forth the cosmos
And entered into everything.
There is nothing that does not come from him.
Of everything he is the inmost Self.
He is the truth; he is the Self supreme.
You are that, Shvetaketu; you are that.”
The father said: “As the rivers flowing east and west
Merge in the sea and become one with it
Forgetting they were ever separate rivers
So do all creatures lose their separateness
When they merge at last into pure Being.
You are that, Shvetaketu; you are that.”
The father said: “Bring me a fruit from the nyagrodha tree.”
Son said: “Here it is sir.”
“Break it. What do you see?”
“These seeds, father, all exceedingly small.”
“Break one. What do you see?”
“Nothing at all.”
“That hidden essence you do not see, dear one,
From that a whole nyagrodha tree will grow.
There is nothing that does not come from him.
Of everything he is the inmost Self
He is the truth; he is the Self supreme.
You are that, Shvetaketu; you are that.”
The father said: “Place this salt in water and bring it here tomorrow morning.”
The boy did so.
“Where is that salt”
“I do not see it.”
“Sip here. How does it taste?”
“Salty father.”
“And here? And there?
“I taste salt everywhere.”
“It is everywhere, though, we see it not.
Just so dear one, the Self is everywhere,
Within all things, although we see him not.”
“You are that.”
…then Shvetaketu understood this teaching;
Truly he understood it all.
“One who meditates
Upon the Self and realizes the Self
Sees the Self everywhere, and rejoices in the Self.
Such a one lives in freedom and is at home wherever he goes.
But those who pursue the finite are blind to the Self and live in bondage.”
“Here our selfless desires are hidden by selfish ones.
They are real, but they are covered by what is false.”
“Like strangers in an unfamiliar country walking over
A hidden treasure, day by day we enter the world of
Brahmin while in deep sleep but never find it,
Carried away by what is false.” [Matthew 13:44]
“Even today people are called godless when they lack
Faith, love, and charity, because that is the way of the godless.”
“Like the wind, like clouds, like thunder and lightning, which rise from
Space without physical shape and reach the transcendent light in their own
Form, those who rise above body-consciousness ascend to the
Transcendent light in their real form, the Self.”